Ubuntu LTS Upgrade, Python 3.11, Samsung, Digital Life, Element PTT

1. Started doing Ubuntu (@ Wikipedia) 20.04 LTS -> 22.04 LTS release upgrades. Found many traps, SSH breaks down, netplan breaks down, so on. Those can be devastating surprises if doing upgrades remotely. Suddenly you don't have network and SSH is also dead, oops.

2. Why netplan failed? gateway4 / gateway6 is depreciated, need to be configured using routes instead.

3. Why SSH failed? sntrup4591761x25519-sha512@tinyssh.org has been replaced with sntrup761x25519-sha512@openssh.com. Not a big deal if you know it, but if it comes as a surprise, you're well, in deep ... stuff ... Reminds me from time when io scheduler noop was replaced with none and it prevented systems from booting after update, so much fun!

4. How Python 3.11 is gaining performance at the cost of ‘a bit more memory’ (@ devclass.com) - Excellent article. I've always liked JIT and also often when writing code, I always think a way where the most probable execution path would be the most efficient. But on some level this should automate it. Also, during execution, it's not clear that the most used execution path, for one time, is the most used path always. As example when accessing dictionary, check first if key is in dictionary, or get it with default, and or first check if the keys is in dictionary and then update it if it isn't and so on. All of these small choices do have performance hit, even if it's often not practically noticeable with small dev / data data sets. Sometimes making a small change to most used loop in program, can easily cut the execution time to half or even 10% from original, non thought about version. As example, my usage of internal caching in many programs is one of these things.

5. One friend didn't understand what the point of lock down mode is on Samsung phones. If they login with face / fingerprint, the point of lock down mode is that you'll need to login with pin / password, ie something you know after that. So you can't be used involuntary to unlock the device.

6. New coming of analog physical computers? - How to Make the Universe Think for Us (@ quantamagazine.org). - Early stuff, but could be just like transistors at early beginning.

7. I've locked myself out of my digital life (@ shkspr.mobi) - What a nice post. Clearly some gaps in his DRP, but those are mistakes which can be made if you don't think about the recovery aspects deeply. DRP should be always crafted in a way, that if you need to escape to another country naked, it won't prevent you from accessing your data. And that is exactly where this example case failed. Also some off-site backup things were clearly badly designed. Yet in some situations, you might not be able to return for retrieving the alternate location off-site backups. So it shouldn't be the only option. But these should be the standard procedures for everyone, because data is important nowadays as we just saw in the post. Also layered encryption is good, where you can ask someone you slightly trust to handle the high trust data, because it's encrypted so, that they don't even know what they're dealing with.

8. Element PTT - I've been waiting for it for ages. I don't know why many developers find PTT way too hard and complex to implement. Another interesting feature would be async "autoplay" audio for selected chat room(s). Difference between the PTT and async mode? Well, with async mode, multiple users can "speak at same time" yet messages will be played sequentially on recipient devices. The option can be simultaneously active for multiple rooms. Also the async mode is a option for room(s), which means that whenever a new audio message is received to that room, it will be automatically played back. The options could also allow the auto-play in background, auto-play when phone is unlocked and auto-play only when the specific room / space / chat is open / selected. The PTT provides low latency, under a second. The async auto-play probably provides latency in seconds to nuinute(s) or so. But it's still very well suitable for distributed teamwork, where remote team is coordinating their operations. These modes and options would merge together the best of both worlds: audio messages & group chat. There's no need for constant call with PTT. Nor constant need to click play back on audio messages when received. But an easy way to synchronize and keep team updated about key events which are happening. kw: Digital Encrypted Walkie Talkie Push-to-Talk (PTT) (@ Wikipedia) Element Matrix Group Radio

2023-08-06